macOS 10.15 Catalina on Unsupported Macs

[K two]

I had mentioned that already. Catalina and later macOS installers do explicitly prohibit installation to drives connected via FireWire - obviously because they'll normally not be bootable.
So you'll have to make at least the first installation step via a different connection. When the Mac is about to be rebooted for continuing the installation you can instead switch it off, connect the drive via FireWire and manually set the boot drive to the installer.

Can any update be fully installed on a FireWire OCLP or is there the step you described to complete the install? 🚧

 

[K two]

Thanks to all who contributed to the Catalina patcher. I am having one issue with it however.

Macbook Pro 5,1 15" late 2008 w/ 2 GPUs. Installed Catalina patcher. Catalina 10.15.7 installed.

Machine sometimes has kernel panic with darkwakes but other times will sleep ok for an entire day with no issues. I've searched the entire MacRumors site for darkwakes issues and it seems that this has never been fully fixed. I've tried both darkwakes 0 & darkwakes 1 settings, doesn't seem to make any difference. Reset PRAM/NVRAM. Did notice some comments about dual GPU cause, but saw no solution other than disabling discrete GPU, which I'd rther not do.

I put a script to run in /library/launchagents to run via launchd to set darkwakes to 1, and then tried it at 0 at login, same result.

And there seems no way to see what the current darkwakes setting is. Pmset -g does not show it that I can tell.

Have I missed something? It's the randomness of it that's most perplexing; I can't see what it does consistently. All help greatly appreciated.

Partial Apple crash report follows, pretty much the same thing every time.

------------------
Sleep transition timed out after 180 seconds while entering darkwake on way to sleep. Suspected bundle: com.apple.iokit.IOGraphicsFamily. Thread 0x74.
Failure code:: 0xd5f2a20d 00000031
================================================================
Model: MacBookPro5,1, BootROM MBP51.007E.B06, 2 processors, Intel Core 2 Duo, 2.4 GHz, 4 GB, SMC 1.41f2
Graphics: kHW_NVidiaGeForce9400MItem, NVIDIA GeForce 9400M, 256 MB
Graphics: kHW_NVidiaGeForce9600MGTItem, NVIDIA GeForce 9600M GT, spdisplays_pcie_device, 256 MB
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM0, 2 GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz, 0x855D, 0x483634353655363146373036364700000000
Memory Module: BANK 0/DIMM1, 2 GB, DDR3, 1067 MHz, 0x855D, 0x483634353655363146373036364700000000
AirPort: spairport_wireless_card_type_airport_extreme (0x14E4, 0x8D), Broadcom BCM43xx 1.0 (5.106.98.102.31)
Bluetooth: Version 7.0.6f7, 3 services, 25 devices, 1 incoming serial ports
Network Service: Wi-Fi, AirPort, en1
Serial ATA Device: Hitachi HTS725050A9A364, 500.11 GB
Serial ATA Device: MATSHITADVD-R UJ-868
USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus
USB Device: Built-in iSight
USB Device: USB 2.0 Bus
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: BRCM2046 Hub
USB Device: Bluetooth USB Host Controller
USB Device: USB Bus
USB Device: Apple Internal Keyboard / Trackpad
USB Device: IR Receiver
Thunderbolt Bus:
___________________

Could be pending GPU failure? Use the little magnifier (upper right) try GPU failures MBP5,1.

 

[K two]

Thanks everyone. In the 09 iMac, I did just get Windows 10 installed, and that is working just fine.

I tinker a bit, but it seems installing Catalina has become a bit more complex then it was a year ago. I watched dosdude1’s video and it all looked very simple, but it didn’t mention all the work for the updates after.

Trying to understand the update process, and reading the beginning of post one, just confuses me for some reason.

Many here have learned to easily use the reliable @jackluke tools for well over a year, routinely and without opening their machines or damaging installed software. And if OCLP is adopted later, the @dosdude1 updated installs will boot without changing anything. All @jackluke tools contain built-in instructions.

 

[TimmuJapan]

So, can I get this version on the patched MBP using the CatalinaOTASWUFix thing? Is it worth bothering? (In particular, did Apple release a fix for the bug that makes me have to resign Chrome after every update?) I'm using SilentKnight to get the XProtect and MRT updates, so not too worried about the security issues of an older OS.

The methods described in this thread for updating the dosdude1 patched Catalina is more cumbersome than just regular old OTA (over the air )updates, but it will work fine. Yes, you can update using the methods described in this thread No problem

I have Chrome installed on my 2011 MacBook Pro with dosdude1 patched Catalina.
I entered the two attached terminal commands once after I first installed, and I haven’t had to do anything else since then. Chrome has updated itself like normal for over a year as long as I’ve been using patched Catalina and “the CatalinaOTASWUFix thing” 😉.

 

[internetzel]

Can any update be fully installed on a FireWire OCLP or is there the step you described to complete the install? 🚧

Any bigger system updates (which involve booting via the updater APFS volume) will need a non-FireWire connection in order to be applied.
For Catalina that does only affect the Security Updates now that there won't be any further version updates.

This can maybe circumvented the same way CatalinaOTASWUFix enables OTA updates on patched installations.

 

[K two]

Any bigger system updates (which involve booting via the updater APFS volume) will need a non-FireWire connection in order to be applied.
For Catalina that does only affect the Security Updates now that there won't be any further version updates.

This can maybe circumvented the same way CatalinaOTASWUFix enables OTA updates on patched installations.

I now see why Note#2 https://github.com/dortania/OpenCore-Legacy-Patcher#readme still applies and overzealous attempts to do otherwise should be IGNORED. Thank you for the reminder. Very much appreciated. 🚧

 

[Squatting Hen]

Would there be a benefit for me to install Catalina on a partition? Be able to boot Windows 10, High Sierra, and Catalina? Is that possible to have Catalina and High Sierra as separate bootable partitions?

 

[K two]

Would there be a benefit for me to install Catalina on a partition? Be able to boot Windows 10, High Sierra, and Catalina? Is that possible to have Catalina and High Sierra as separate bootable partitions?

A common practice

 

[Squatting Hen]

A common practice

View attachment 1949477

I got Catalina installed, but I can no longer boot into windows. The drive doesn’t show up as a boot option when I hold down Option. I can only see the High Sierra drive, Catalina drive, and recovery.

It still shows in the disc utility, shows mounted, but no longer in boot options at startup.

Need to get that back somehow. I didn’t touch this partition at all.

Tried going to system preferences and selecting the windows boot drive and restarting. I get No Bootable Device error.

 

[TimmuJapan]

I got Catalina installed, but I can no longer boot into windows. The drive doesn’t show up as a boot option when I hold down Option. I can only see the High Sierra drive, Catalina drive, and recovery.

It still shows in the disc utility, shows mounted, but no longer in boot options at startup.

Need to get that back somehow. I didn’t touch this partition at all.

Tried going to system preferences and selecting the windows boot drive and restarting. I get No Bootable Device error.

There are some very special ways to fix this problem….. boot camp or a windows partition on a Mac sometimes doesn’t play nice once a 3rd partition is added….. I can tell you about a special fix for this that worked for me, but can you tell us what your hardware is first? Please be detailed, what year is the Mac, what type, do You know if your windows is a uefi or legacy install?

 

[Squatting Hen]

There are some very special ways to fix this problem….. boot camp or a windows partition on a Mac sometimes doesn’t play nice once a 3rd partition is added….. I can tell you about a special fix for this that worked for me, but can you tell us what your hardware is first? Please be detailed, what year is the Mac, what type, do You know if your windows is a uefi or legacy install?

Thank you. I probably messed this up, but currently I am trying to install windows again from the Catalina OS that I just installed using boot camp. Hopefully it is easier then it was to get Windows 10 using High Sierra. Already wiped my original Windows 10.

I didn’t really have any files or data saved, so all it cost me is time.

Still trying and I will update as to what happens. Hopefully it won’t happen again but I will have the same amount of drives in the end.

This is what I have: picture is before I put Catalina on it tonight.

 

[TimmuJapan]

Thank you. I probably messed this up, but currently I am trying to install windows again from the Catalina OS that I just installed using boot camp. Hopefully it is easier then it was to get Windows 10 using High Sierra. Already wiped my original Windows 10.

This is what I have: picture is before I put Catalina on it tonight.

I wouldn’t reinstall windows again, if I were you….. I can probably help you with this, because I solved this exact same problem on my 2011 MacBook Pro, with a legacy Windows install on one partition, high sierra and Catalina on another partition (divided by separate volumes within one partition), and Linux on a third partition….

The windows partition stopped booting after I added the third partition, and there was a very specific and specialized fix that I had to implement to make it work again….

It’s not so difficult to do, and I can send you the tools to do it in this thread, but I’m at work right now, and I won’t be able to respond to this for about eight hours. Help is on the way though. I would hold off on reinstalling, it probably won’t make a difference— as long as there are three OS partitions on your main drive.

If you want to change your macOS to just one partition, and then install Catalina, High Sierra and whatever on separate volumes within the one macOS partition , that will fix the problem quickly, but it means having to reformat your whole drive. Windows will not boot as long as there are more than 2 OS partitions on your drive, and I doubt that The windows installer will let you reinstall windows without having to wipe the entire drive (all the partitions)…..

I will write you later today about a special tool called gdisk that you can install from the recovery, then run a special script to fix your windows partition….. please wait a little….

 

[Squatting Hen]

I wouldn’t reinstall windows again, if I were you….. I can probably help you with this, because I solved this exact same problem on my 2011 MacBook Pro, with a legacy Windows install on one partition, high sierra and Catalina on another partition (divided by separate volumes within one partition), and Linux on a third partition….

The windows partition stopped booting after I added the third partition, and there was a very specific and specialized fix that I had to implement to make it work again….

It’s not so difficult to do, and I can send you the tools to do it in this thread, but I’m at work right now, and I won’t be able to respond to this for about eight hours. Help is on the way though. I would hold off on reinstalling, it probably won’t make a difference— as long as there are three OS partitions on your main drive.

If you want to change your macOS to just one partition, and then install Catalina, High Sierra and whatever on separate volumes within the one macOS partition , that will fix the problem quickly, but it means having to reformat your whole drive. Windows will not boot as long as there are more than 2 OS partitions on your drive, and I doubt that The windows installer will let you reinstall windows without having to wipe the entire drive (all the partitions)…..

I will write you later today about a special tool called gdisk that you can install from the recovery, then run a special script to fix your windows partition….. please wait a little….

I wasn’t patient and already wiped it. I just downloaded the windows iso and the boot camp windows files, but I am not getting the option to use the iso, says it has to be a disc.

I did that on high Sierra as I had an old windows 7 disc, but I don’t have a windows 10 disc or a blank 8gb writable.

 

[lcubed]

disk utility used to have the ability to make a disc from the iso. (i haven't tried this in a long time)

 

[Squatting Hen]

I can’t even get Windows 7 installed like I did before. Formatted this drive twice and still get this. This worked before I did Catalina.

 

[K two]

I got Catalina installed, but I can no longer boot into windows. The drive doesn’t show up as a boot option when I hold down Option. I can only see the High Sierra drive, Catalina drive, and recovery.

It still shows in the disc utility, shows mounted, but no longer in boot options at startup.

Need to get that back somehow. I didn’t touch this partition at all.

Tried going to system preferences and selecting the windows boot drive and restarting. I get No Bootable Device error.

idk since Windows not used, here. Sorry. 🤔

 

[Squatting Hen]

All right. I think I am done for today. Pretty much have to start from scratch.

I can wipe everything no big deal. I have nothing on here so I am fine with that.

Question - Should I keep High Sierra and Catalina installed or should I install Catalina over High Sierra?

I want a MacOS and Windows 10. What is the best way to accomplish that?

I wanted all 3 just in case, but it isn’t working easily. If I start fresh that’s fine, I can install everything from scratch.

 

[K two]

All right. I think I am done for today. Pretty much have to start from scratch.

I can wipe everything no big deal. I have nothing on here so I am fine with that.

Question - Should I keep High Sierra and Catalina installed or should I install Catalina over High Sierra?

I want a MacOS and Windows 10. What is the best way to accomplish that?

I wanted all 3 just in case, but it isn’t working easily. If I start fresh that’s fine, I can install everything from scratch.

Don't wipe anything. Some form of OpenCore booted from USB will likely see all of your partitions and boot them. Try the OC booter from @jackluke here: https://github.com/jacklukem/USBOpenCoreAPFSloader/releases/tag/4.5

 

[Squatting Hen]

idk since Windows not used, here. Sorry. 🤔

Don't wipe anything. Some form of OpenCore booted from USB will likely see all of your partitions and boot them. Try the OC booter from @jackluke here: https://github.com/jacklukem/USBOpenCoreAPFSloader/releases/tag/4.5

I am sure there are ways, but I am not 100% comfortable with a lot of these extra downloads and installing 3rd party stuff. I am sure it is all fine, but I am not knowledgeable or completely comfortable with all of it. I truly appreciate all the work everyone has done with all of this, I am not not up to date with it all. Dosdude1 was a bit of a reach for me, lol.

Really just wanted Catalina and Windows. If it was best to keep High Sierra as well, that’s fine too.

 

[K two]

I am sure there are ways, but I am not 100% comfortable with a lot of these extra downloads and installing 3rd party stuff. I am sure it is all fine, but I am not knowledgeable or completely comfortable with all of it. I truly appreciate all the work everyone has done with all of this, I am not not up to date with it all. Dosdude1 was a bit of a reach for me, lol.

Really just wanted Catalina and Windows. If it was best to keep High Sierra as well, that’s fine too.

Nothing is installed on your Mac, the booter runs from a USB you make yourself. It should allow booting to anything bootable on the Mac. Instructions are built-in.

 

[trifero]

I am sure there are ways, but I am not 100% comfortable with a lot of these extra downloads and installing 3rd party stuff. I am sure it is all fine, but I am not knowledgeable or completely comfortable with all of it. I truly appreciate all the work everyone has done with all of this, I am not not up to date with it all. Dosdude1 was a bit of a reach for me, lol.

Really just wanted Catalina and Windows. If it was best to keep High Sierra as well, that’s fine too.

I have windows installed in legacy mode in another SSD. Just pressing Alt when I want to use it.

 

[TimmuJapan]

All right. I think I am done for today. Pretty much have to start from scratch.

I can wipe everything no big deal. I have nothing on here so I am fine with that.

Question - Should I keep High Sierra and Catalina installed or should I install Catalina over High Sierra?

I want a MacOS and Windows 10. What is the best way to accomplish that?

I wanted all 3 just in case, but it isn’t working easily. If I start fresh that’s fine, I can install everything from scratch.

Grr…. Good things come to those who wait….. still at work and will write a post pointing to the tools you needed tonight, but…..

This problem has to do with the number of partitions on your drive and windows being difficult when you add a 3rd partition.

If you install macOS on 1 partition and windows 10 on another—1 macOS partition / 1 windows partition—, you will be fine. In this case, within your macOS partition, you can have both patched Catalina and native high Sierra (and Mojave if u want!)…. You can do this by creating a separate VOLUME for each OS within your macOS partition using disk utility. (for example, you install High Sierra normally on a partition, then go to disk utility within High Sierra, and create a new volume within that partition called “Catalina”, then use your dosdude1 patched Catalina USB stick to install Catalina on that volume.

On many macs, if you Try to triple boot using 3 separate partitions (example: macOS, windows 10, Linux, each on separate partitins), creating the third partition will break the windows installation. You probably can (and certainly could have —had you waited!) easily restore the windows partition’s ability to boot using a third-party tool called Gdisk.

I’ve used the tool on a white MacBook from 2006 and a MacBook Pro from 2011 to boot with more than 2 partitions and windows 10. I will post information about this tool when I get home tonight.

 

[TimmuJapan]

I am sure there are ways, but I am not 100% comfortable with a lot of these extra downloads and installing 3rd party stuff. I am sure it is all fine, but I am not knowledgeable or completely comfortable with all of it. I truly appreciate all the work everyone has done with all of this, I am not not up to date with it all. Dosdude1 was a bit of a reach for me, lol.

Really just wanted Catalina and Windows. If it was best to keep High Sierra as well, that’s fine too.

I think that the easiest thing for you is to start with High Sierra on 1 partition / windows on another partition, then create a new VOLUME inside your HIGH SIERRA partition named CATALINA and install dosdude1 Catalina on that new volume. I've done this now on my 2011 MBP and it has been working like a charm for a few years.

Just in case, if you decide that you want a triple boot (or more!) adventure with multiple partitions including Windows 10, below is how your fix your windows installation after adding a 3rd partition and it fails to boot:

https://sourceforge.net/projects/gp...1.0.5/gdisk-binaries/gdisk-1.0.5.pkg/download

gdisk-1.0.5.pkg

You download and install gdisk on your desktop, the same way you would any other program. Per my knowledge, this program is by the same guy who made "refind", which is the boot manager many people use for legacy Macs. After you run the installer on your desktop, you boot to recovery and type this command in the terminal in recovery:

/Volumes/HARDDISK/usr/local/bin/gdisk /dev/disk0

In this command, you have to substitute HARDDISK with the name of your hard drive, so if it is "Macintosh HD", then it would be:

/Volumes/Macintosh\HD/usr/local/bin/gdisk /dev/disk0

(It might also just be easier to temporarily rename your drive ``HARDDISK`` while doing this.

After you run the command, just follow the entries on the attachments loosely. Even if it is not exactly the same, you will end up with a working triple boot and your windows partition will be fixed.

I've used this program many times over the last two years and can vouch for its safety and reliability.

That being said, as k two mentioned, there also may be a way to do this with opencore...... I think that if you want Big Sur or Monterey on a legacy Mac plus windows, you may have to go the opencore route then... I`ve never used gdisk with anything higher than dosdude1 patched Catalina.

 

[ScooterComputer]

I can’t even get Windows 7 installed like I did before. Formatted this drive twice and still get this. This worked before I did Catalina.

Windows 7 is very persnickety about installing to GPT drives. Give up on that and just go to Win10.

The first question is: did you attempt to use a BootCamp-created Win10 installer (on USB, I'd assume)? If so, that could be your first problem; need to use a Windows 10 installer "built" for UEFI install. So if you're trying to use a Win10 installer you'd made prior, might need to recreate it. Also don't use BootCamp.app to make your Windows partition.

 

[TimmuJapan]

Windows 7 is very persnickety about installing to GPT drives. Give up on that and just go to Win10.

The first question is: did you attempt to use a BootCamp-created Win10 installer (on USB, I'd assume)? If so, that could be your first problem; need to use a Windows 10 installer "built" for UEFI install. So if you're trying to use a Win10 installer you'd made prior, might need to recreate it. Also don't use BootCamp.app to make your Windows partition.

"Squatting Hen" is on a 2009 iMac. (wtf? that sounds weird - and I can't believe that I found a picture to go with this post!) LOL

I don`t think that a UEFI install of windows 10 will be successful on this machine. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8080187

It doesn' matter if he goes through bootcamp or not. Macs prior to 2012 need legacy installs of windows 10 to get all the drivers working.....and all sorts of other tweaking too....Hrutkay Mods has made multiple videos about how to get windows 10 on unsupported Macs. Here is a good place to start: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fSkM2zOquCo

I tried UEFI windows 10 on my MBP 2011, and I couldnt get the sound to work. Finally, it worked with a legacy install of windows 10 made by Hrutkay mods in the comment of the video above. Greg (Hrutkay Mods' boss) used to write a lot on these forums and did several collaborations with DosDude1, per my knowledge.